Look no farther than Hershey, PA, home of the Hershey Bears. Celebrating their 80th season in the AHL, the Bears — who were in Belleville to play the B-Sens earlier this month — are not only the envy of every town in every minor-pro hockey league in North America, but they have also set a lofty standard for any minor-pro team in any sport in North America.

“It might just be the best minor-league franchise in all of sports,” said Vegas Golden Knights GM, George McPhee, in an NHL.com interview from 2014.

In Hershey, the numbers speak volumes: 67 playoff appearances, 23 conference championships, 17 division titles, 13 former players in the AHL Hall of Fame and 11 Calder Cup crowns. As the No. 1 farm club of the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, the Bears sent 14 players to the parent club’s title-winning roster last season.

In Hershey, they don’t just develop prospects. They develop winners.

Nobody knows that better than B-Sens head coach Troy Mann. He coached the Bears before being hired last off-season by the B-Sens. Mann coached those 14 players who appeared on Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup roster.

So what’s the deal in Chocolate Town?

For one thing, fan support has always been of the rabid variety. The Bears are consistently at or near the top of AHL attendance figures, season after season. Currently, the club is second with a per-game average crowd of 8,858 in a building — the Giant Centre — that seats 10,500.

The Bears are so popular in Hershey that season tickets get handed down within families from generation to generation. Soon after entering the AHL in the 1938-39 campaign, the Bears set a standard of winning that quickly became a franchise trademark. Fans expected it.

John Walton, former play-by-play voice of the Bears, said players, coaches, trainers and front office personnel understand what is expected of them in Hershey once they join the Bears organization.

Reminders of past success and pressure to perform are everywhere in Hershey. It’s a wonder fans can even see the rafters in the rink for the mass of championship banners that hang there.

The Bears made the playoffs in their first 11 straight seasons in the AHL, advancing to five Calder Cup finals and winning their first league title in 1947. It’s a tradition of winning that has seen the team — regardless of NHL affiliations at various times in its history — miss the post-season dance just 13 times in 80 years.

A lengthy cast of all-stars and colourful characters have worn the chocolate brown of the Bears over their nine-decade history. Among them, Hockey Night in Canada Coach’s Corner personality Don Cherry and three former members of the 1959 world champion Belleville McFarlands — Barton Bradley, Pete Conacher and Al Dewsbury. Former Wellington Dukes defenceman Bryan Helmer, who won a Calder Cup as a player in Hershey, is the Bears VP of hockey operations.

And even though he wasn’t a hockey player, former NBA superstar Wilt Chamberlain enjoyed his best night as a professional hoopster in Hershey. Back in 1962, as his Philadelphia Warriors (now Golden State Warriors) played the New York Knicks in a regular-season contest at old Hersheypark Arena, “Wilt the Stilt” scored an NBA-record 100 points.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Chamberlain’s amazing performance occurred in Hershey. After all, winning is expected there.

CZECH POINTS

… Heading into the final weekend of the 2018-19 AHL regular season, the BELLEVILLE SENATORS were still on the outside looking in, trailing the Cleveland Monsters by two points in the battle for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division. As of Friday, Cleveland was fourth with 82 points while the B-Sens sat fifth with 80. Both clubs had two games to go. One aspect of Belleville’s game that hasn’t helped in the drive for a playoff berth is the penalty kill. B-Sens were dead last in that department in the entire 31-team AHL, at 76.3 per cent. B-Sens had surrendered the most power-play goals (71) in the league on a total of 300 enemy chances. Conversely, Cleveland’s PK was ranked seventh (83.7 per cent), allowing just 46 goals on 282 opposition PPs. The league-leading Charlotte Checkers did Belleville a favour Thursday night, defeating the Monsters 4-3 in O.T., but Cleveland still picked up a point. Those two teams were set to clash again last night. As for the B-Sens, they visit the Toronto Marlies today (4 p.m. start), then finish up at home Sunday against the Rochester Americans with a 2 p.m. matinee. Since capturing the Calder Cup in 2011, the B-Sens’ playoff record has been dismal. They missed the playoffs in 2012, then were ousted in the first round in both ’13 and ’14. Playing out of Binghamton, NY, before relocating to Belleville in 2017, the B-Sens have missed the playoffs four years in a row.

… Speaking of playoffs, how about those WELLINGTON DUKES? The Green Packers of Tier II Jr. A hockey make their second straight trip to the OJHL BUCKLAND CUP FINALS and were set to face the OAKVILLE BLADES beginning last night in Oakville. Game 2 of the best-of-seven championship series is Sunday at 7 p.m. at Lehigh Arena. The Oakville lineup includes power forward JACK RICKETTS, whose father, JOHN, is a former member of the BELLEVILLE BULLS. Ricketts was second in playoff scoring for the Blades with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 15 games. Ricketts recently committed to a hockey scholarship at HOLY CROSS in Worcester, MA, starting next season. The elder Ricketts played for the Tier II Bulls when they advanced to the CENTENNIAL CUP (now RBC Cup) national Jr. A final in Halifax in 1981.

… And still on playoffs, the NAPANEE RAIDERS carry an unblemished 16-game unbeaten streak into the SCHMALZ CUP Ontario Jr. C championship series. Napanee has won all four of its previous best-of-seven playoff matchups in four straight games. The Raiders await the survivor of the Western Final between the Exeter Hawks and Grimsby Peach Kings to play for provincial bragging rights. Napanee native RYAN CASSELMAN paced the Raiders in their 4-0 sweep of the Alliston Hornets in the East Final, with five goals and 10 points in four games. Raiders won their only previous Schmalz Cup title in 1993, when they defeated the Hanover Barons in the Ontario final. They eliminated the defending Schmalz Cup champion Lakefield Chiefs in this year’s all-Ontario quarterfinal round.